Santa Barbara Discussion Thread

[DRW50]

We Love Soaps does a few video interviews but more would be nice.

Soapnet moved pretty quickly towards treating viewers like they were morons, which took away plenty of great opportunities. I guess a Dobson special would have been great on Pure Soap, or the larger E! channel, back when that channel was actually entertaining.

I'd already heard about some of the article from posters here, but the full read was very interesting. They're fascinating people. It's kind of sad when she said they'd tried to get jobs at other soaps but no one would have them. You can tell how much they loved the genre, and how much they loved the Santa Barbara characters.

[SFK]

Yeah, I have seen some of the WLS videos, I mean just more Linda-Danoish with cushy chairs and a stack of magazine or something, not all dim and creepy with wine sitting at the kitchen island.

Have you seen the clip of Bridget getting the Emmy with JFP and not letting her speak nor thanking her, all awkward...

[DRW50]

I saw it a while back, yeah. Great soapy moment. You could see where a lot of her eccentric characters came from.

[dm.]

Michelle Nicastro, SB's Sasha Schmidt (89-90) died November 4, 2010, of breast cancer.

R.I.P.

[juniorz1]

Aww, that's so sad. I really liked Michelle on SB and any role I saw her in thereafter. What a shame.

[DRW50]

From the August 27, 1985 Digest. (Network Publishing Co.)

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

[juniorz1]

Thanks so much for posting that Carl! Great read! I wonder what role she was offered on ATWT- I never knew she even auditioned for them, let alone landed a part. Anyone have any idea what part it could have been? I'm pretty sure she started on AMC in 1981, if that helps.

[DRW50]

I'm glad you hadn't read it. Since you're such a big fan of Marcy's I'm glad it was a nice surprise. It's funny that she says that Eden doesn't get her the fame Liza did (which she was fine with), since in the long run that became her defining role.

Yeah I wonder about that too. This would have been around 1981. Would it have been a recast Annie or Dee? Or Betsy?

I didn't know Eden was originally supposed to be a bitch. Do you think they were right to move her away from that? Was there any Eden bitchiness in the early episodes?

[juniorz1]

Eden was most certainly a bitch early on. I didn't start watching until late 1985 and by then, much of that had vanished. However, a couple of the readers of 'RTSB' sent me DVDs with old episodes on them and Eden was bitchy to say the least. Most of her venom was directed at Sophia when she returned- Eden didn't take kindly to her mother at first and with good reason. But it wasn't just because of her mother's abandonment; you could clearly see that Eden relished being the lady of the house in her mother's absence and wasn't about to be displaced. She also directed her bitchiness to Gina, though Gina was far more deserving of it than Sophia. I also remember her sort of playing games with Lionel when she first came to town, flirting with him and I think he didn't know who she was at the time. There was also no love lost between her & Mason.

I think they started softening her when they paired her with Cruz and while she did lose most of her bitchiness, she still acted sort of entitled and certainly privilidged. She also still could be very tough when the situation called for it- Eden certainly was no pushover. The playfulness she describes was definitely a major part of her as well.

She remains and will forever remain my favorite soap character of all time and that's a testament to Marcy. She and A Martinez WERE magic & I LOVE that he describes working with her as exactly that. It's always the first word that comes to my mind: A & Marcy as Cruz & Eden were, indeed, MAGIC. No other soap couple even comes close for me.

It's funny how A says that people around him who'd seen his acting for years told him that he was doing his best work with Marcy and this was only 1985. Most of the stuff they were doing up until then was fun, playful, romantic stuff and yet they still cited it as his best work. I bet they were blown away with the work he did in 1986, when Eden "died." He should have won the Emmy in 1987 for that stuff and in the interview you posted, Robin Mattson expresses how disappointed she and everyone was that he lost.

One final thing of note is how he says here that Marcy was the first actress who gave him the ability to genuinely laugh in front of the camera. On the SB video site that I believe is linked to in this thread, there's a section where A gives his thoughts on the scenes and he says the exact same thing. 25 years later.

I love them & miss them. I'm thankful to Barbara Walters and "The View" every day that we got that reunion between them. In the clip, you could see that there's still genuine affection between the two of them, even if they are no longer in one another's lives. Magic, simply magic.

Edited November 16, 2010 by juniorz1

[Wendy]

I was just coming to post this. I'm stunned. She was also in When Harry Met Sally, Harry's girlfriend who introduced Harry and Sally. To die at 50 is too young.

Seems disrespectful to say this now, but I will always remember frozen Sasha in Mason and Julia's freezer as Michelle sang "Am I Blue?" over the scenes.

May she RIP.

[DRW50]

From the April 28, 1992 Digest. (K-III Magazine Co.)

Edited November 22, 2010 by CarlD2

[Dr Neil Curtis]

Question: was Mason and Julia supposed to move to Bay City (another world) after the SB cancellation? If so why didn't it happen?

[Wendy]

If I recall from SOD years ago, it was something thrown around by the network, but nothing came of it.

[juniorz1]

Gee, thanks for reminding me of "The Thing that Ate Santa Barbara in 1992" (Zimmah's Jodie), Carl.

[DRW50]

From the May 31, 1988 Digest (Network Publishing Corporation).